In the state of the art, a number of devices for measuring the mass of a bale comprised of pressed agricultural crop material are known. E.g., it has been proposed (DE 44 36 128A, DE 198 163A, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,4,742,880 A, 5,384,436 and 5,742,010 A) to convey a fabricated bale out from the press chamber and onto a support surface, where the weight force of the bale is measured while the bale is at rest or is moving, the measurement being a measurement of the force exerted on the support surface. Because a bale has a relatively high mass, bringng it to a complete stop requires substantial effort. However, if one attempts to measure the weight force while the bale is moving, the process is subject to substantial measurement error.
In DE 195 43 343 A, it was proposed to measure the weight forces acting on the axles and the tow-bar of a baling press. The weight force of the fabricated bale is calculated based on the change in the forces when a bale is ejected. In order to obtain usable measurement values with this approach, a large number of sensors and a highly developed calculation scheme are required.